For more information:
• Geocaching.com, which bills itself as the Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site, can tell you how to get started.

Producers: Jim Piston, Field Producer Charlie Bissell
Videographer: Prentice Walker
Audio: Charlie Bissell
Editor: Jim Piston

Finders, Not Keepers

Geocaching

What is geocaching, you may ask? Think of a treasure hunt, with a high-tech twist.

Geocaching enthusiasts use a Global Positioning System unit—an electronic device that can determine your approximate location on the planet—and their wits to find items hidden by other participants. The coordinates of the hidden items, or caches, are posted on the Internet, and the game is afoot.

It may sound simple to find a cache if you have a GPS unit giving the precise location, but think again. Practitioners of the art say that actually trying to arrive at the cache location is the challenge. A river or another obstacle might impede your progress.

There are currently more than 2,000 caches in Kentucky alone. You can find geocachers hunting for these hidden treasures deep in the woods or deep in downtown city centers. Host Dave Shuffett and geocaching enthusiast Craig Rouse of Nicholasville scour Fayette County to find a few of the hidden trinkets.

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For more information:
• A good way to learn about mountain music is to explore the web site for the Kentucky Muse documentary Mountain Music Gatherin’.

Producer: Tom Thurman
Videographer: Jason Robinson
Audio: Noel Depp
Editor: Dan Taulbee

Keeping the heritage alive

Rossi Clark

Rossi Clark is a 15-year-old girl from Somerset much like other girls her age—with one notable exception, of course: She’s a master fiddler-in-training. And not just any fiddler, mind you, but a student of traditional mountain music with a passion for keeping this important legacy alive.

We talk with musician Betty Vornbrock, a fiddler with the Reed Island Rounders, and musical archivist Nancy McClellan about the Pulaski County teenager’s potential. Rossi, who began fiddling at age 4, has apprenticed with fiddler John Harrod, a former Rhodes Scholar and high school teacher who is widely regarded as an authority on Kentucky’s traditional music. (John was featured on a previous episode of Kentucky Life.)

The best way to appreciate Rossi’s talents, of course, is to listen, and Rossi performs a couple of her favorite songs for us.

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For more information:
• Leslie Bebensee’s Kokovoko Breeding Farm has a web site with a wealth of information on Gotland ponies.

Producer, videographer, editor: Valerie Trimble
Videographers: Matt Grimm, Jason Robinson
Audio: Noel Depp
Editor: Jim Piston

Got Ponies? Gotlands!

‘Best pony on the planet’

Considered an “at risk” breed by the Equus Survival Trust, the Gotlands are an ancient breed of ponies from Sweden. Leslie Bebensee of Corinth has almost singlehandedly saved the remnants of the herd that were first brought to America, and champions the Gotlands as “the best pony on the planet.”

The Gotland pony is actually a small horse commonly referred to as a pony due to its size. They average 12.2 hands high and about 650 pounds. They have a sterling reputation as cooperative, easy-to-train animals.

Lesllie’s Kokovoko Breeding Farm in Harrison County has been breeding Gotlands for nearly 20 years, ever since they bought the last remaining breeding herd in North America in 1989. Since then, the ponies have become Leslie’s passion. Her dedication to the breed has paid off: In the past 10 years, the number of Gotland ponies in North America has increased dramatically to about 200.

Watch This Story (7:52)